09 August, 2015

This Week In Videogames – 09/08/2015

By
Kyle Shimmin

Our weekly news hit is back and should remain so, in
hindsight launching it right before I decided to take some extended time off
might not have been the most logical move, but hey! Gamescom happened and so
did mainstream journalism… oh boy!

Still No Guardian Fuel

Your friends and mine at Activision Blizzard announced some
hot financials earlier this week, concerning their first quarter of the
financial year. Destiny has over 20 million accounts, with 2 billion hours played
total. Naturally they did not disclose how many of those accounts are only registered
through the demo, available on Xbox Live and PSN. Diablo III is at 30 million copies
sold and Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Destiny combined have 70 million
registered players, a weird statistic to trot out I know. In far more dire news
World of Warcraft subscriptions slip lower still, from 7.1 million to 5.6
million, though it remains the largest subscription-based game in town.

It’s Almost As If They're Businessmen

It comes as little surprise then that Blizzard have another
World of Warcraft expansion primed and in the hopper, given the very tangible
effect they have on the player base. The expansion pack Legion aims to
wow players – I couldn’t resist – with a new class; the Demon Hunter, for the
Night Elves and Blood Elves. The level cap will be raised to 110, there’ll be
new raids, dungeons, ‘class order halls’, a new continent, an honour system, weapon
artefacts, and probably lots more. Roll for the trailer below!

The Only Seamless Beard In The Galaxy

Staying on the MMO train for another stop, Star Wars:
The Old Republic had a showing at Gamescom, with Bioware veteran James Ohlen
taking to the stage. No new information was shared, but they did show a gameplay
trailer, below, which highlights a wealth of bespoke animations across a range of different cutscenes. Assuming it is just a taste of what’s to come, rather than being all
of the best scenes, Knights of the Fallen Empire could be quite something.

Try All You Like, Live Action Will Never Be *Good*

Need For Speed also made an appearance at the EA Gamescom
press conference, though with far more live action than gameplay, or rather
live action that is gameplay. Need For Speed uses live action cutscenes
featuring ‘real world automotive icons’, such as Ken Block and Morohoshi-san, but
what’s really special here is that these cutscenes will boast real time rendering.
Meaning loosely, your customised ride will star in the live action too. Here’s
the trailer.

And You Thought VR Would Give You Pink Eye

Mad Max, being an open world game in the wake of Ubisoft’s
war crimes, naturally features strongholds; garrisons filled with enemies ripe
for the slaughter. Its open world fodder, sure, but it gets far more enticing
when you remember it’s a Mad Max game… The latest trailer shows some of the
wasteland’s personalities; Gutgash, Deep Friah, and Pink Eye. Oh and the main
antagonist is called Scabrous Scrotus. Enjoy!

Those Bridges Are Reused

Despite not actually starring in the EA Gamescom press
conference, Dragon Age: Inquisition, the game we named Game of the Year for
2014, is getting another serious piece of downloadable content real soon. The
Descent sees the Inquisition delving into the Darkspawn-teaming Deep Roads to
you know, kill Darkspawn. The Descent is accessible to players as soon as they reach Skyhold, scaling to their character's level. It will release August 11th on
the PS4, Xbox One, and PC for $14.99. Oddly, The Descent was largely developed
by Bioware Austin the team behind Star Wars: The Old Republic and the cancelled
Shadow Realms, Mike Laidlaw (Creative Director) revealed on Twitter.

Can Titans Musou?

Koei Tecmo, the publisher best known for their many Warriors
franchises, announced using an excruciating teaser trailer, that they are
continuing to create hack n’ slash spin-offs for all franchises. Kind of. Next
up is Attack on Titan, while they said nothing at all about the product, not
even a name, Koei announced it is scheduled to hit the West in 2016 and that it
is being developed by Omega Force. Koei do in fact publish more than just
Warriors games; I for one would love an Attack on Titan strategy game, where
you would have to organise humanity’s defences. But don’t hold your breath on that.
My money’s is on a Monster Hunter-style title from the team that worked on
Toukiden, I would be a-okay with that too.

My S-Foils Are Rigid

In less shocking trailer news, Dice revealed the Fighter
Squadron game mode for Star Wars: Battlefront. The decidedly in-atmosphere –
for now at least – mode, sees twenty players and twenty AI bots square off in a
chaotic dogfight. It isn’t straight deathmatch rules either, in the scenario
shown in the trailer below the Rebels (utter scum) are attempting to intercept
an Imperial shuttle in the sky’s above Sullust.

That’s No Moon

Elite: Dangerous a.k.a the ‘sickest flight sim’ (Shimmin,
2015) is getting a new and full priced expansion this holiday. Horizons will
cost £39.99, with a limited time £10 discount for current Elite: Dangerous
players. It will introduce planetary landings, complete with scan-able mineral
deposits! Check out more details on the Horizon storepage, if you’re so
inclined.

Because Space Needs More Spreadsheets

The world simply can’t have enough space games, of the
simulation and strategy variety in particular, that’s not an opinion, its fact. And Paradox agrees; their internal studio responsible for the Steam heavies;
Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV announced a new title, Stellaris.
While I’m convinced at least three pixal-art roguelikes must already exist with
that exact name, Paradox doesn’t seem to mind. Below you’ll find their announcement
trailer that confirms what we’ve all known for years; aliens built the pyramids.
Their site sheds more light on what to expect from the game.

Dictation Is So 2014

During their Gamescom press conference, Microsoft showed the
world their latest must-have seasonal accessory; the Chatpad for Xbox One and
Windows 10. I’ll be honest, I consider
this to be a plastic fungus, further bloating an already bulbous and heavy controller. But
it does offer two programmable buttons, so you can finally take screenshots
like a human being! According to the Microsoft Store, it’s coming out November
3rd, but the programmable buttons will only work on the Xbox One,
with ‘expected availability mid-2016’. It sounds like they are patching in
the programmable functionality next year. What?

Let’s Hope Anders Didn't Make It Out ALL UNITS

In far more exciting Xbox One news, Creative Assembly,
developers of Alien: Isolation (2014), oh and all of the Total War strategy
games, is making Halo Wars 2. It is set to launch in Fall 2016 on the Xbox One and
Windows 10, continuing the ‘legendary Halo tale’, of the Spirit of Fire presumably,
from the original Halo Wars. Halo Wars was a real-time strategy game released
on the Xbox 360 in 2009, it was received with mixed success, leading to the
developer Ensemble Studios being glassed soon after release. The trailer reveals pretty
much nothing about the game itself, but give our podcast a listen to find out
why I’m a little hesitant about Creative Assembly taking the reins on this one.

Well I Prefer Not Wearing Pants At All

… I must be out of this world then. From mocking amusement
to downright rage it’s hard to feel nothing when you look at the August 17th
cover of Time magazine, featuring Oculus’ Palmer Luckey, seen below. Here’s
the story's preview text, reading the rest requires subscribing and that’s more money
than I will ever give Time.

“Palmer Luckey
isn’t like other Silicon Valley nerds. He’s a nerd all right, but not the kind who went to a
top-ranked university, wrote brilliant code or studied business plans. He’s
cheery and talks in normal sentences that are easy to understand. He was
homeschooled, and though he did drop out of college, it was California State
University, Long Beach, where he was majoring not in computer science but in
journalism. He prefers shorts, and his feet are black because he doesn’t like
wearing shoes, even outdoors. He doesn’t look like a guy who playedDungeons
& Dragonsso
much as a character inDungeons
& Dragons. He’s a nerd from a different century, working on the
problems of a …”

And on that glorious note, we conclude our weekly news
feature. Are you experiencing deep-seated rage at that Time cover, or are you
just enjoying the hilarious edits? How do you feel about This Week In
Videogames, think it should branch out some, cover other areas? Let us know, in the comments
below!